Administrative Detention: Justifying Human Rights Violation

Take Action: International campaign to call for
ending ''Administrative Detention''
policy:

UFree Network launches an
international campaign calling for an end to Israeli
“Administrative Detention” policy which leaves hundreds
of Palestinian political detainees held inside Israeli jails
without charge or trial.

Although international law
restricts the use of administrative detention, Israel is
using it regularly in flagrant violation to article 10 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 14 of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
that state prisoners should have a fair trial.

UFree
Network said that Israeli “Administrative Detention”
policy does not only violate international laws and Geneva
conventions but it also breaches the Israeli law itself as
it violates the conditions set to renew Palestinian
administrative detainees' arrest.

Israeli
“Administrative Detention” policy also violates the
agreement signed in May 2012 between Israeli Prison Service
and Palestinian political prisoners and detainees to limit
administrative detention policy, but rather their number
increased to reach over 200 prisoners.

UFree Chairman,
Mohammad Hamdan, expressed his total support to Palestinian
administrative detainees’ hunger strike and called on the
European Parliament and European member states to pressure
Israel to meet their legitimate demands topped by ending
administrative detention policy.

Palestinian
administrative detainees are deprived from family visits,
placed in solitary confinement and in many ways
discriminated. These conditions pushed hundreds of
Palestinian administrative detainees to declare an
open-ended hunger strike on Thursday 24th April 2014,
demanding an end to their “Administrative Detention” as
part of their protest steps declared in October last
year.

Background:Israeli jails are
considered to be the toughest, most cruel and unliveable
facilities for prisoners and detainees in the world. Human
rights violations take dierent forms, including the
denial of medical care, physical and psychological torture,
inhumane treatment and humiliation. Human rights
organisations, like Amnesty and Human Rights Watch,
condemned Israel for its practices breaching international
law. One of these practices is ‘administrative
detention’, an integral feature of occupying powers and
repressive regimes. The Israeli authorities use
‘administrative detention’ to suppress people seeking
their freedom. Since the occupation of Palestine, thousands
of Palestinians have been held in Israeli custody as
administrative detainees for long periods of
time.

What is administrative
detention?Administrative detention is the
detention of an individual by the state and occupying power
for a long period of time without trial. This law has also
been titled ‘emergency law’. Dierent regimes,
including democracies and occupying powers, use
administrative detention and justify the use as a preventive
action to assure security. In practice, the main motivating
factor for Israel authorities to use administrative
detention is to suppress opposition. Unlike criminals, who
are charged and convicted, prisoners held under
administrative detention are detained without
accusations.

Scale:Israeli occupation
authorities regularly use the administrative detention law.
In November 1989 a mass arrest of 1749 Palestinians took
place, all of them were placed under administrative
detention. The number of prisoners held under administrative
detention uctuated over the years and reached over a
thousand in the early years of the second Intifada in 2000.
In 2011, the number of Palestinian detainees held under
administrative detention was 219 and increased to 309
detainees in 2012, however in 2013, the number decreased to
198 Prisoners.

International
law:Although international law restricts the
use of administrative detention, Israel is using it
regularly. Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, state prisoners should have a fair
trial. The arrest and deportation of prisoners and
administrative detainees is a violation of Articles 49 and
76 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention.

Impact:The impact of
administrative detention of prisoners is immense as they are
deprived from family visits, placed in solitary connement
and in many ways discriminated.These conditions pushed
more than 2000 prisoners on 17th April 2012 to start a mass
hunger strike to end administrative detention policy,
solitary connement and improving the living conditions in
prisons. The strike lasted for 28 days where it ended after
reaching an agreement to limit administrative detention
policy, but rather their number increased to reach 200
prisoners. According to Palestinian Prisoners Society, 142
administrative detention orders were issued since the
begining of 2014.On Thursday 24th April, 200 Palestinian
administrative detainees have started an open-ended hunger
strike demanding an end to their administrative detention as
part of their protest steps declared in October last
year.

Palestinian political prisoners and detainees have
threatened to declare on an open-ended hunger strike en
masse in solidarity with their administrative fellows in
case IPS does not meet all of their fair
demands.

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